Director Nguyen Ha Bac has spent nearly 40 years making cartoons. TheMeritorious and People's Artist talks to Viet Nam News about his hopesfor Vietnam's cartoon industry and the ups and downs of working inanimation.
Bac is renowned not only for winningmany of Vietnam's prestigious awards as a director, artist andscreenwriter, but also for being a pioneer in many fields, such as thefirst Vietnamese director producing 3D cartoons "Giac mo cua Ech Xanh"(The dream of the Green Frog), the first Vietnamese director creating 3Dcartoons "Quyet dinh lich su" (Historical Decision) about a historicalfigure, and the first Vietnamese cartoon producer invited to be a judgeof an international cartoon festival.
* It seemsthat Vietnamese children in this country know very little aboutVietnam's cartoons, while for those in the city cartoons means DisneyChannel or Chinese cartoons shown on TV. What is the position ofVietnam's cartoons among Vietnamese children today?
It's hard to answer this question, but your question reminds me of apreconception popular in Vietnam: that cartoons are for children so theyhave to be treated like children, which might explain why Vietnam'scartoon industry cannot grow up.
You see, foreigncartoons serve various types of audiences, especially the young, such asthose imported into Vietnam, such as "Finding Nemo", "Lion King","Kungfu Panda", "Ice Age" and "Rio". Vietnam's cartoons have been outrunby their counterparts.
* The movies that you havejust mentioned belong to the entertainment kind which are seen inHollywood, which use cartoons as a means of producing films. Could youspecify your opinion on cartoons in general?
It isnot just my opinion. Cartoons might be considered to be films forchildren only in Vietnam. As a method in the film industry, the cartoonis a perfect product of human imagination. With the assistance oftechnology, it might go beyond the imagination of the most liberalminds; therefore, it is considered that it suits and serves onlychildren.
However, in the world, cartoons aredivided into many kinds, such as advertising cartoons, feature films orTV serials, each of which has its own standards. More importantly,cartoons cannot lack their own philosophy. Philosophy is like thebackbone for all imaginations about the appearance of characters, thecontext or the movements.
* After watching"Historical Decision" [about General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Dien BienPhu Battle], I'm sure that it is not for children. However, to behonest, I find the character depicted is pretty inflexible.
Your comment is fairly right. I want to explain right away that thecartoon is produced without support from the state budget. In"Historical Decision", all the phases of characters depicting anddesigning are conducted by groups of artists accustomed to producing thecomponents and devices for online games. I'm the only professionalcartoonist, and I'm also the script writer, general director and evenfinancial contributor. Therefore, I could not manage every detail of thefilm. I participated a lot in editing, especially in characterdepiction. It took nearly two years to finish the cartoon, but not allof its errors could be fixed. I'm sure that if I had another chance towork on it, I would try to make it better.
*According to what you have just said, the incomprehension in theproduction of a cartoon is also as serious as the limits in the cartoonorientation that we have just talked about?
That'sright. State budgets are still not available for we cartoon producers,but the exact expense the cartoon makers receive might be onlyone-third. Directors like me prefer making our own films from our ownscripts, but sometimes they are not approved for inexplicable reasons.Otherwise, we have been assigned scripts that we have no interest in. Toartists like me, our artistic-self and artistic interest is the mostimportant thing.
* You and your colleagues are nearly 60 years old now. What do you expect to be the differences for your descendants?
I really feel hopeful. Many families have satisfied their children'spassions for cartoons by having their children study drawing and cartoontechnology. Some parents have come to me and asked me to help theirchildren. Maybe due to the profound influence from Japanese cartoons, ormanga, some are determined to draw manga-like characters. However, Ihope they will gradually realise the value of their own style indepicting characters so that they can go further and be successful.
At least I have seen the passion, extreme individuality and goodtechnological foundation in young cartoonists. They are much better thansome of their predecessors who were so reserved, just producingcartoons to fulfill their jobs and they did not know how many peopleever watched their films.
* Have you watchedcartoons that are popular on the internet and made by young cartoonist,such as "Co be ban diem" (The little match girl)? What do you thinkabout the way they are introduced to audiences?
Ihave watched and my first feeling is great admiration. A cartoon mightlast for only 20 minutes, just half the length of a TV film, but ittakes months or even years to finish. We have called cartoons anaristocratic film. It is free to broadcast on the internet so it mightdraw large numbers of viewers, but in such a market economy, how manyfree films can be produced without regaining the capital, not to mentionearning profits. I think that no matter how they pursue their passion,nothing is as durable as letting passion nurture itself.
* Cartoon production in Vietnam seems to encounter enormousdifficulties. Has the recent Vietnam Film Festival offered anysolutions?
I have not seen any light at the end ofthe tunnel yet, but we who are passionate about our jobs will not belikely to loosen our hands. I have new directions of cooperation andhope that I can do something useful for the audience of Vietnam'scartoon. Cartoons have brought me lots of things: a little fame, muchtravel and much knowledge, even though I have been through a lot of upsand downs with them.-VNA
Bac is renowned not only for winningmany of Vietnam's prestigious awards as a director, artist andscreenwriter, but also for being a pioneer in many fields, such as thefirst Vietnamese director producing 3D cartoons "Giac mo cua Ech Xanh"(The dream of the Green Frog), the first Vietnamese director creating 3Dcartoons "Quyet dinh lich su" (Historical Decision) about a historicalfigure, and the first Vietnamese cartoon producer invited to be a judgeof an international cartoon festival.
* It seemsthat Vietnamese children in this country know very little aboutVietnam's cartoons, while for those in the city cartoons means DisneyChannel or Chinese cartoons shown on TV. What is the position ofVietnam's cartoons among Vietnamese children today?
It's hard to answer this question, but your question reminds me of apreconception popular in Vietnam: that cartoons are for children so theyhave to be treated like children, which might explain why Vietnam'scartoon industry cannot grow up.
You see, foreigncartoons serve various types of audiences, especially the young, such asthose imported into Vietnam, such as "Finding Nemo", "Lion King","Kungfu Panda", "Ice Age" and "Rio". Vietnam's cartoons have been outrunby their counterparts.
* The movies that you havejust mentioned belong to the entertainment kind which are seen inHollywood, which use cartoons as a means of producing films. Could youspecify your opinion on cartoons in general?
It isnot just my opinion. Cartoons might be considered to be films forchildren only in Vietnam. As a method in the film industry, the cartoonis a perfect product of human imagination. With the assistance oftechnology, it might go beyond the imagination of the most liberalminds; therefore, it is considered that it suits and serves onlychildren.
However, in the world, cartoons aredivided into many kinds, such as advertising cartoons, feature films orTV serials, each of which has its own standards. More importantly,cartoons cannot lack their own philosophy. Philosophy is like thebackbone for all imaginations about the appearance of characters, thecontext or the movements.
* After watching"Historical Decision" [about General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Dien BienPhu Battle], I'm sure that it is not for children. However, to behonest, I find the character depicted is pretty inflexible.
Your comment is fairly right. I want to explain right away that thecartoon is produced without support from the state budget. In"Historical Decision", all the phases of characters depicting anddesigning are conducted by groups of artists accustomed to producing thecomponents and devices for online games. I'm the only professionalcartoonist, and I'm also the script writer, general director and evenfinancial contributor. Therefore, I could not manage every detail of thefilm. I participated a lot in editing, especially in characterdepiction. It took nearly two years to finish the cartoon, but not allof its errors could be fixed. I'm sure that if I had another chance towork on it, I would try to make it better.
*According to what you have just said, the incomprehension in theproduction of a cartoon is also as serious as the limits in the cartoonorientation that we have just talked about?
That'sright. State budgets are still not available for we cartoon producers,but the exact expense the cartoon makers receive might be onlyone-third. Directors like me prefer making our own films from our ownscripts, but sometimes they are not approved for inexplicable reasons.Otherwise, we have been assigned scripts that we have no interest in. Toartists like me, our artistic-self and artistic interest is the mostimportant thing.
* You and your colleagues are nearly 60 years old now. What do you expect to be the differences for your descendants?
I really feel hopeful. Many families have satisfied their children'spassions for cartoons by having their children study drawing and cartoontechnology. Some parents have come to me and asked me to help theirchildren. Maybe due to the profound influence from Japanese cartoons, ormanga, some are determined to draw manga-like characters. However, Ihope they will gradually realise the value of their own style indepicting characters so that they can go further and be successful.
At least I have seen the passion, extreme individuality and goodtechnological foundation in young cartoonists. They are much better thansome of their predecessors who were so reserved, just producingcartoons to fulfill their jobs and they did not know how many peopleever watched their films.
* Have you watchedcartoons that are popular on the internet and made by young cartoonist,such as "Co be ban diem" (The little match girl)? What do you thinkabout the way they are introduced to audiences?
Ihave watched and my first feeling is great admiration. A cartoon mightlast for only 20 minutes, just half the length of a TV film, but ittakes months or even years to finish. We have called cartoons anaristocratic film. It is free to broadcast on the internet so it mightdraw large numbers of viewers, but in such a market economy, how manyfree films can be produced without regaining the capital, not to mentionearning profits. I think that no matter how they pursue their passion,nothing is as durable as letting passion nurture itself.
* Cartoon production in Vietnam seems to encounter enormousdifficulties. Has the recent Vietnam Film Festival offered anysolutions?
I have not seen any light at the end ofthe tunnel yet, but we who are passionate about our jobs will not belikely to loosen our hands. I have new directions of cooperation andhope that I can do something useful for the audience of Vietnam'scartoon. Cartoons have brought me lots of things: a little fame, muchtravel and much knowledge, even though I have been through a lot of upsand downs with them.-VNA
